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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28582200">Upon His Grave</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/poptod/pseuds/poptod'>poptod</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Night at the Museum (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Mystery, Science Fiction, Underwater Cities</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:33:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,036</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28582200</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/poptod/pseuds/poptod</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Astray from home, the Diver finds themselves on a planet unlabelled in the map. Here they search for the purer things in life; solitude, comfort in understanding the way life works, and ultimately peace. They, unsurprisingly, do not find that.</p><p>There's a voice that haunts this planet. Someone you can't see. </p><p>Who is he?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ahkmenrah (Night at the Museum)/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Crash</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I wasn't sure whether to post this as a fanfiction or as an original work but it'll definitely get more views as a fanfiction and all I'm really altering is the name I mean come on</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>How long is it now?</p><p>It had to have been a while. You could hardly remember at that point, which should've been indicative of something, but you couldn't tell quite what. If you hadn't fled the homeworld you might've been able to dig deep enough into yourself and find the answer that already lingers on the outside of your thoughts, but if you had done so the question may never have existed.</p><p>You weren't stranded, luckily enough – yes, you were on an uninhabited planet, but you had your ship with you. It's in perfect condition except for missing energy. The solar panels were fully operational, but there was just this one problem; there's no sun.</p><p>Outside the thick, steel-lined windows lay nothing but the dead of night and the pulsing thrush of ocean water being pulled by the orbiting moons. Even with the outside lights on you could hardly see anything but the drifting sand caught in the still of deep currents. There was nothing above you – no rocks, no creatures, no sky. Just... dark. Like floating in a space where the stars had died.</p><p>Your ship, more dear to you than anything, was fortunately stocked with a variety of tools, both of use for survival and research. There is no living without discovery. As it happens, the government required both a spacesuit and a diving suit for each ship. One each. </p><p>So here we were; you had no idea which sector of space you were in, much less which planet, no chance of solar power, and a dwindling oxygen supply. You rifled through the storage closet containing the suits, digging about for a rebreather with shaking hands. Solitude was never something you feared nor despised. There was something different there, though – there was no option, no company in times of need, no help, no outside opinion. Already the stress was beginning to affect you, speeding your heartbeat and hastening your breath. <em>Step by step, here.</em></p><p>Power source. This deep there had to be thermal vents, unless the planet was in the process of dying which, to be fair, wasn't impossible. From down in the depths it gets increasingly harder to tell, as the creatures grow into silence and shadowy disguises.</p><p>As you shoved your legs into the skintight suit, there was nothing in your head – hardly any plan at all except the thoughtless movement of your limbs. You recalled a long while ago you had taken a class that taught the procedure for being stranded on planets and islands with no hope of communication. Back then, like most of the students around you, you had never thought it would be of use. No one ever thinks the Thing will happen to them, and then it does. Because life likes to throw curveballs, and being stuck at the bottom of the ocean is the curveball that hit you in the back of the head.</p><p>It's alright. It will be alright. Humans would live on without you, and truthfully you had very few friends and relatives back on Keplar, the last remaining homestead of the human race. The extinction drawing nearer each passing century didn't occur to you then; <em>I am not a necessity</em>, you thought, but as a member of a dying species each of us becomes one. Each human was necessary to the cause, to breed out a new lineage, to outlast being hunted for sport. It becomes the purpose of life and it sickened you.</p><p>None of that mattered as you set the glass helmet over your head, the smallest amount of energy blinking the display to light. Tiny green letters appeared on the bottom of your view, telling you the date, the status of your health, and the chance of survival. Fortunately enough, it wasn't all that daunting, though you had to remember the suits' mechanisms had yet to scan the outside of the ship. Only the inside.</p><p>A voice can come along with the suit, but you had never used it before, and found it rather useless even then. You could read faster than she could speak. Later you would, most likely, use it due to the isolation of this place and the innate human need to be around others. For now you would focus on your own survival; find energy, find a water source, find food, and find the sun.</p><p>It's <em>freezing</em>. Or it would be, if the diving suit didn't regulate your temperature. The gauge in front of you said -1 Celsius, and with a shaking beat of your heart you thanked God for technology. As suspected you could see very little in front of you, aided only slightly by the lights of the ship, but generally left alone to your own discovery. Reaching for your belt, you pulled out the scanner gun, loading it up and hoping it would turn on.</p><p>A soft ding left the device once the display turned on, quickly connecting with the display in your suit for ease and practicality. </p><p>
  <em>Depth: 221 Meters.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Life signs: Positive.</em>
</p><p>You sighed in relief as the words appeared. Life signs meant little considering microbes qualified as life, but you held out hope––something very rare for you to do––and began to step along the ocean floor.</p><p>It was as if you existed in a vacuum down here; nothing in, nothing out, nothing but nothing itself. The light inside your scanner shone onto empty air, rendering it useless besides the usual means of scanning. Funnily enough, your mind began to wander, imagining the creatures of a deep, isolated sea. Sight would be useless here, and in a flash you remembered sonar.</p><p>You fumbled for a moment with the triggers and switches, changing the settings to sound sonar which blew up a holograph out of the scanner. Lines of blue reflected onto the water, allowing a small map of the ocean floor to show itself to you. They ran in nearly straight lines that drew upwards, and after a second's thought, you realized this was not in fact a ravine that would have thermal vents, but rather a small but deep pit.</p><p>
  <em>Fuck.</em>
</p><p>The scanner continued to beep softly as you kept the display on, holding it up higher in order to gauge the depth of the pit. If you were lucky, it wouldn't be too deep, though considering the overall depth of your crashed ship, you weren't likely about to receive any good news.</p><p>Curiosity began to overtake logic as your situation truly settled in. You knew you couldn't leave your ship down here, but there were life signs, and you were desperate to know if they were simple microbes or a full environment. Since you had yet to scan the entirety of the planet (since that would require a satellite and several samples of earth), there was no telling for sure. Excitement thrummed as imagination took hold, picturing a vast wilderness, unknown and uncharted. This was what you had always adored – discovery.</p><p>You swallowed the lump in your throat as you looked upwards, to the vast night and star-less waves that pushed the deep current gentle against your body. Even standing perfectly still you swayed – just slightly, just barely, mouth hung open as your thoughts left your own situation.</p><p>
  <em>Is there a world above me?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Is there intelligent life?</em>
</p><p>Faster than your brain could process you were back inside the ship, stuffing the waterproof pockets in your helmet and belt full of food and water rations. Another one of those 'not-a-drop-to-drink' situations––eventually you would need to get a purifier from somewhere, whether that be from a simple boiling and condensing of water, or a technology that did the work for you. For now you would carry your food with you on your venture to the surface, and as you adjusted your rebreather you once more thanked God for technology.</p><p>Though it would be a long journey to the surface, you didn't bother finding or creating a water engine to propel you, which you began to regret about halfway up. The pressure changed slowly as you made your way up, popping your ears several times before the water even started to lighten. Ink faded away to a dark, seeping green, as though the water were sick, sick with tendrils of shadows that danced on the edge of your vision. </p><p>Water, now more slave to the moon's currents, began to pulse and thrush against your ears. The sheer level of noise paired with the constant popping of your ears made for an all-around unpleasant experience, bringing your eyes to water several times before you could blink the tears away. Although the current was gentle enough, it still sapped your energy quickly  as you propelled yourself upwards. </p><p>Like climbing up into the sky, you breached the water's surface, relief filling your veins as you realized the long journey was over. A crystal-clear sky encased you, displaying the heavens in its' entirety. Again your mouth hung open in wonder––with no eyes to watch, you didn't have to consider appearances. Only your own fascination.</p><p>A tap against your foot sent you jumping away, eyes bulging as you looked down in surprise. Your heart continued to beat wildly despite your quick identifying of a fish, one with a single, massive eye.</p><p>Below the fish, still staring up at you, a swarm of life dwelled on the shallow ocean floor of soft, black sand. You inhaled sharply as your eyes flitted to every movement – the schools of fish, the pink and green coral growing out of hollow bones and crevices in caves and stone. <em>This</em> was where the life was, thriving on the surface that must've seen eons of sunlight.</p><p>Caught up in your own thrill, you quickly raised your head above the water once more, scanning the flat water world around you. From here you could see no mountains, or any land at all––only the scattered clouds and rolling waves against the dark of night.</p><p>You pulled your scanner out of your pocket, booting it up and holding it into the sky. It trilled for a moment, taking its' time to thoroughly scan the atmosphere, before reporting back with safe, breathable air. Another positive sign––the threat of death eased away, pulling with it your sense of unease.</p><p>For the next several hours, leading into a fast-setting night, you scoured the sea for the many different fish. The creatures on this planet were strange––as one might expect––but all relatively simple organisms defined into easy categories. To your continued delight, you found a grove nearby filled with pink and green corals, cradled in long strands of seaweed that stretched upwards like locks of tangled hair. The coral seemed to move, to <em>breathe</em> on its' own even with the skeletal structure this particular growth leaned towards.</p><p>Slowly the world dimmed into a halt, the surface of the water further blocking the light of two moons. The scarce light that hit the dancing waves reflected above you, glittering as though they were diamonds, caught in eternal movement. What light did get through dipped only a few feet before the rays vanished into the overwhelming dark. Bioluminescent flora and fish marked where the ocean floor was, dug into the layers of sand and hiding between the cracks in rocks.</p><p>You paused as the ocean fell into a hush. Even the waves had seemed to quiet, but it didn't occur for you to look upwards, as your attention was caught on the stillness of hiding fish. Suspended above the ground, you turned every which way in hopes of finding something––<em>anything</em>, really––that would tell you that you were safe. You had been so busy scanning the various lifeforms and adding them into the database it didn't occur to you that maybe some of them were edible, and that maybe you should've been catching some of them.</p><p>Biting the inside of your cheek, you tugged at the blisters already formed there from years of a bad habit. You checked your surroundings once more for any threats before pulling up your scanner, turning on the sonar projections and the small map it had automatically made during your little trip to the surface. Your ship was waiting––and it did no good to set up the solar panels during the day, as by the time they would be done, it would be nighttime. Instead you would have to install them now, and pray the eerie quiet of the ocean was just that: eerie. Nothing more and nothing less.</p><p>
  <em>Why am I here?</em>
</p><p>There had to be a reason. You never did anything without reason, but you couldn't remember. It's possible you hit your head too hard when the ship came crashing down, though you didn't suspect that to be the cause, as you hadn't even gotten a bruise from the impact. The fire that engulfed the helm of the ship on the way down might've terrified you into a blackout, but again, you were not prone to forgetfulness.</p><p>With the solar panels set up amongst the coral with long, thick wires that led down into the pit, all that was left was to wait till morning. Until then you wouldn't be able to enter your ship – the oxygen was nominal there, and the rebreather only worked in water, pulling the oxygen out of it. Though exhaustion had certainly begun to drag down my movements, you stayed near the surface and stayed awake. Couldn't afford to accidentally drift away.</p><p>To pass the time, you toyed with the settings of your scanner, looking into the universal translator that had only come out recently. You'd never used it––nor any other sort of translator of your own making––so your interest was piqued when you spoke in Chen and it came out in English. Dr. Finnifer had come up with this. You never met the man yourself, but you heard good things, and enjoyed the various researches he had piloted.</p><p>"Bub."</p><p>Your head snapped upwards at the small sound, looking every which way for the source. Only when you found nothing and relaxed did you look down, finding a small crustacean scuttering along the sandy floor, with your scanner pointed right at it.</p><p>"Shrimp?"</p><p>You sat there, dumbfounded as you stared at the little creature.</p><p>"Bub. Bub."</p><p>You laughed. What else could you do? That was your first laugh on the planet, used on the translated thoughts of a small crab. There was, most likely, no better way to spend it.</p><p>When one is left alone with their thoughts, they find themselves thinking of things they never would've thought of around others. For you it was much the same––whenever you spent days on your own, caught up in the romanticism of your obsession with both the furtherment of humanity and the isolation of yourself, thoughts occurred to you that you wouldn't dare mention. The words flowed more easily, stating their points clearly and without stress. You would never be able to access that part of yourself around others. Too afraid of judgement. Too focused on societal manners. In those moments you could never remember your words.</p><p>This place was a haven, and as the only intelligent life here, you labelled it such. In the map of the stars you could only study after your ship was powered, you gave the stray planet the name Haven. Of course, it was entirely possible the planet already <em>had</em> a name and that it simply wasn't loading into the hologram, but considering you weren't about to talk to anyone anytime soon, you didn't care all that much.</p><p>Once your ship, the <em>Treader</em>, was fully powered, the first order of business was clean water. It had been about a day since you had drank anything, an irritation that was growing clear on your too-dry skin and parched mouth. You easily gathered salt water in a bucket previously used for vomiting, heaving it inside the ship and loading it into the purifier, which promptly began spitting out freshwater.</p><p>Most of yours days following the new steadiness of life here were taken up by tinkering. The tools your ship carried were suited for outer space, and while a few had already proved helpful, there were far more machines that would bring more ease into your work. A few of them you had began before arriving here, but the rest you were bound to create from scratch with only the materials you could find and the designs in the <em>Treader</em>'s database.</p><p>your main priority was simple; slowly grow up the technology you had until you could fully delve into your research of the planet. Questions had swarmed your head from the second you took a nosedive into the atmosphere, and even now, the threat of death all too real, you craved answers more desperately than anything else. No planet is simply that––there is history, <em>story</em> in the layers of rock, in the evolutions of the creatures and the bloom of plants. It can tell you everything and nothing, depending on if you know how to read what it speaks. </p><p>The glowing blue letters above you were the only lights on in the ship, illuminating (albeit very dimly) the tweezers and wires in your hand. It was always black as death down here, and thus you set up a camera on the surface of the water, hoping to be able to tell the time of day without having to leave the safety of your ship. You had already spent two hours twittering about on this device, hoping the wires and batteries would cooperate to make a glider.</p><p><em>Compartments. Little... pockets,</em> you thought to yourself, wondering where you could install holding places for the samples you would be collecting. The glider would give you easy access to the world around you, and with that, you could begin to take samples from the surface. From there you could begin to understand the world––log down the atmosphere's inconsistencies and the elements in the water. Catalogue the flora and record the creatures.</p><p>Only when you accidentally jammed the power button did you stop, no longer able to hold back my own exhaustion. A deep disappointment sprouted in your head, whispering that you'd worked for longer and harder before, but in the end you crawled beneath the sink counter and curled into your bed.</p><p>A clunk against the ship's hull stirred you, your eyes slowly opening as you rolled out of bed and flat onto the floor. With dragging feet and drooped shoulders, you made my way to the front of the ship, slapping the button for the headlights. A soft, long yawn came to you as you met eyes with a many-toothed, fat, scale-less fish.</p><p>"Go get fucked," you said, rather loudly, and you winced at the hoarseness of your voice. </p><p>The fish––surprisingly––didn't knock against the ship again. It didn't leave, but at least it wouldn't be bothering you anymore with the lights on. You crawled back into bed.</p><p>You woke again hours later, this time to rapid, high-pitched beeping coming from the ship's console. This time you were far more rested, though the realization that you'd drained the power with the headlights thoroughly depressed you. Apparently it was halfway into dawn, going by the camera you set up. With a sniff you resolved that however many hours you had gotten sleep would be enough, and that it was time to get back to work, which had been calling your name even in your dreams.</p><p>Now that the headlights were off, you had about ten more minutes of oxygen before you needed to leave to an area in which your rebreather would work. You could use that required outside-time to farm much needed materials and, if time allowed, take the first samples of Haven's surface.</p><p>Swarms of fish surrounded you, joined by the pink and yellow corals growing over the vast water-plain. At the shallow bottom of the ocean, sand had been pushed into small waves, decorating the ground in a pattern you noticed only when you turned to stare at your shadow. Stark against the pale yellow and the glittering sunlight.</p><p>As you skimmed along the ocean floor you committed the flora to memory, taking pictures of those more interesting and taking samples of all you could. Soon you would be able to categorize them––though, going by the different underwater species you'd seen thus far, there weren't that many different categories for them. One type had scales, the other had smooth skin, and that was it. Nothing more than that.</p><p>Your interest in the planet was comparatively mild, but there nonetheless. You had always taken to collecting things, even as a child, and this was a form of it. Collect specimens, collect information––understanding the earth better than you ever understood yourself. It's a way to calm the mind, and considering the other methods you could've chosen, this one works quite well.</p><p>The quiet silence of the ocean filled your ears as the fish began to fade away, movement coming to a halt the further you got. You almost paused, the motor of your glider slowing before you shook your head, continuing onwards. Hills of coral made way for a flatland of grass, filled with slithering creatures you could just barely see in the corner of your eye. The sun still shone perfectly bright, but the eerie of night had come before the sunset, clogging up your throat with anticipation.</p><p>You looked from side to side as you swam by. Whether it was from anxiousness or a simple curiosity, you couldn't quite tell at the time––too absorbed in your own thoughts. Still, you tried to keep your wits about you, as there is no better friend than a concentrated mind.</p><p>A loud <em>bonk</em> came from your helmet as you knocked straight into hard stone, sprouting a stinging headache from the bottom of your skull. A sharp gasp left you, but just as soon as the noise had come, it faded into bewilderment. Seated on a throne––twenty feet tall, a stone image of a King:</p><p>A human.</p><p>Beyond the statue lay ruins, structures and pillars of stone that had fallen into the dust of the ocean, yet to be concealed by sand. Vines of seaweed had overtaken many of the still-standing buildings, allowing fish to house up amongst the architecture. Surprisingly enough, most of the remains still held their original carvings, the intricate details that might've once meant something to a civilization long lost. Your heartbeat increased tenfold, eyes widening as you took in the sight.</p><p><em>This</em>, you thought, <em>this is perfect beauty.</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Before Thee</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Hmm... that's strange.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hhh u know?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You marveled at the find before you. How many finds like this would come in a single lifetime? For a moment you had to stop––had to soak in all that you saw, to memorize every bit of it as though you didn't have all the time in the world to study this civilization.</p><p>Beeping from your armband pulled you out of your own fantasies, inciting a deep annoyance as you looked down.</p><p>
  <em>Treader powered</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Return Home</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Hull Integrity 84%</em>
</p><p>Another one of those damned fish––you cursed softly to yourself, teeth grinding in irritation. You couldn't just leave this place, not now. Unfortunately the fish felt otherwise; the integrity slipped down into 78%, and you knew there was no avoiding this.</p><p>Quick as your fingers could work you inputted your location relative to the few landmarks you'd already set in the map. For good measure you held the ruins in full sight, letting your helmet snapshot an image of the stone. It would have to do. Despite your paranoia around leaving the site, you tore yourself away, letting the glider pull you through the water in the direction of the Treader.</p><p>That was <em>human</em>. The structure towering before you in its' royal might was human––face, limbs, and all. The crown he bore was not all that different from the crowns of old. The riddles knocked around your head; how it got here, who built it, when was it built, when was it abandoned. An itch had already settled itself into your mind, begging you without thought for your own safety to return to the buildings. There had to be something more than what you saw––for there to be massive statues, there must be a city more massive than the simple complex you'd seen in ruins.</p><p>It had been a while, now, since you took that class on archaeometry, and your skills in it had never been great. Nonetheless it had helped you in the past––particularly dealing with a stray moon––and it would help you again. Dating those ruins to when they were built would be a hell of a task, but certainly worth it. Fortunately enough, the ruins couldn't be more than a couple thousand years old. Any longer and they would've eroded.</p><p><em>Need to start an expedition into the deep down,</em> you thought to yourself absently, barely noticing the darkening of the water as you crept lower into the earth. In order to find the date of those rocks, you needed to have a chart to compare it to––a chart of the layers of this planet, detailing what each generation is composed of. A small smile came to you, preceding the arrival back to the ship.</p><p>Oh––oh this was new. This wasn't the same fish as before––this one had long, jagged teeth that lined its' tongue and beak, gnawing into the outer shell of the Treader. Your mouth fell open as you took in its' enormity. Spindly arms and fingers had clawed into the metal, denting the hull in ways that set your teeth on edge. </p><p>It had yet to notice you, too engrossed with its' new 'toy'. So far, the injury to the ship wasn't worse than anything that had happened before––space is, unsurprisingly, full of surprises. With a little help from the manual, it wouldn't be anything more than a minor inconvenience. Still, the question of how to get the monster away from the Treader, and what to do with it once its' attention was on you, remained just as relevant.</p><p>Besides the basic levels of learning, you had little defense. The knife on you was small––about the size of a regular kitchen knife––and would do little against the hard but slick skin of the creature. Instead you took a guess; now, most deep-sea creatures didn't have eyes, as light was not a thing that existed in the deeper depths, but you turned your headlamp on anyway. </p><p>It took a fraction of a second before the beams were set dead on the creature, pulling from it a high-pitched squeal that had your ears ringing. You flinched backwards from the sudden pain, but kept the lights shining right into the massive, black eyes, and eventually the creature left in a strong <em>swish</em> of water that sent you back through the water. Your back hit the stone of the pit, bruising from the direct hit to your spine. Tears sprung from your eyes.</p><p>"Son of a bitch," you mumbled to yourself, turning down the headlamp to a more suitable light. </p><p>With slow movements you made your way to the door, pulling on the metal handle with clumsy force.</p><p>"<em>What </em>are<em> you</em>?" Said words. Not your own, certainly––not from anywhere around you. </p><p>You paused dead in your step, eyes flickering to every little thing in front of you. When silence followed, you entered the ship, chocking it up to a fluke of your own imagination.</p><p>You would have to get used to that. Considering how isolated as this place made you, you had to expect to lose some sanity––hopefully not all, but you would need to take precautions anyway. You noted in your head to create a video labelling altogether your name, profession, and general facts about yourself as a human. That or an AI, one smarter than the one in your helmet, one that could bring you out of insanity. Was that even possible? Either way, now that you were fully aware losing your mind was a possibility, you could proceed without fear of -</p><p><em>"What do you call yourself</em>?"</p><p>You yelped as the voice returned, leading you to slip on the wet of the ships' floor and land right on your tailbone. The pain sprouting from there matched well with the bruise on your spine. As the voice spoke again you sucked in a sharp breath, raising your head to look every which way, hands and feet scuttering you backwards against the wall. The short, quick, up-and-down movement of your chest only highlighted the panic sure to be drowning your eyes.</p><p>"What the hell is happening," you muttered under your breath, wide eyes falling to the floor. There was no one here but you. <em>Take comfort in that</em>, you implored yourself, but that ancient part of you––built in the genetics of our early evolutions––knew only fear.</p><p>"It's -" you took in a shaky breath, "just my head. Monkey brain."</p><p>
  <em>"You think I come from you?"</em>
</p><p>You seized up, blood rushing out of your face.</p><p>
  <em>"I am older than my voice."</em>
</p><p><em>What</em>?</p><p>Shadows began to creep up the sides of the walls, encompassing all that you could see. As if dark could be casted as easily as light––as though <em>you</em> were casting that darkness, the lines pouring from your silhouette into the world around you.</p><p>You blinked and it all vanished. The overhead lights on the Treader now shone perfectly bright, flickering only slightly from their half-unscrewed states. Dents covered the ceiling––you would have to tend to those soon, unless you wanted the pressure to collapse the only safe spot on this planet.</p><p>The voice, though––unlike most of the auditory hallucinations you had in the past, this one didn't come from your ears. It was as if it came from your thoughts, something inside you, something you couldn't identify. Some part of you that you weren't aware of. You shivered; just the thought of it set your stomach on edge. To not have full control of oneself.</p><p>
  <em>"You're hurt."</em>
</p><p>There's a pressure on your back. Right up against your spine, actually––it pushes onto your bruise, shocks of pain flowing throughout your back and into your head. You let out an involuntary shout as you jumped away. Whirling around, you found no one behind you. <em>Of course</em>.</p><p>"<em>Return to the city</em>," it continued, but at that point you weren't sure if that was your own thought, or one placed there by either an unknown being or your slowly draining sanity.</p><p>Your ship needed tending to. Whether or not there was something, some<em>one</em> else here, or if it was simply the overwhelming force of your curiosity, that was no excuse to abandon her here. Without her your chances of dying went up an amount you couldn't afford to lose. Besides, the Treader had protected you time and time again––abandoning it carelessly was a hell of a shitty way to thank her.</p><p>The bolt of the storage clicked as you opened it, the door lying open in the floor and leading to the store of your smith tools. Since the injury was underwater you would have to improvise.</p><p>
  <em>Return to the city.</em>
</p><p>This time it echoed––poured out vibrations into the groaning ship, waves into the water around you. You halted as your breath caught in your throat.</p><p>Something tugged on your arm, but as you whirled around to face it, you found nothing. Again.</p><p>"Stop it!" You yelled, and the stimulus stopped dead in its' tracks. The vibrations slowed into stillness, echoing voices vanishing as the hands on your body disappeared.</p><p>"<em>Trust me</em>," it said, soft and tugging at your fingers. Something warm spread across you, pushing you gently towards the door, the hums of many voices finally harmonizing. Yet it didn't open the door––once you reached the handle, the influence left you to your own decision.</p><p>"Tell me, then," you said. "Why do you want me to go back?"</p><p>"<em>You're hurt,</em>" it hummed as a pressure grew on your shoulder, slowly rolling the already-sore muscles all while pushing you closer to the door. You braced your hands on either side of the doorframe as pain bloomed.</p><p>"No shit," you grumbled.</p><p><em>"Let me help you</em>."</p><p><em>Fucking Christ,</em> you thought to yourself, watching as the coral once more faded into the sandy desert. Hopefully the voice in your head couldn't read your thoughts––then again, if it could, it probably would've cursed you out by now. Your teeth ground together as you stared forward, wondering how it came to this. Listening to an unknown, uncontrolled being. Obeying its' command as though you trusted it. You hadn't even seen the image of it––that is, if it even had an image. It was all too likely there was something in the water, some sort of dangerous chemical or pheromone that activated parts of your mind that were meant to remain stagnant and unconscious.</p><p>The sun was beginning to set against the moving horizon, casting the sky in orange and red. Dancing water reflected that light, pools and streams of it falling through the surface and onto you, your legs kicking softly against the waves. While the voice hadn't spoken since you left the ship, you could still hear its' tone. There wasn't a specific sound to it––after all, it still was in your head. More than anything it sounded like <em>your</em> voice. Your teeth ground harder against each other. It <em>was</em> you. That was the only explanation.</p><p>By the time you reached the ruins, the sun had set below the water, leaving only the pale remnants of a burning sunset. Only the smallest amount of light made it to you by the hanging moons, leaving you to turn your headlights on. Fish scattered when it shone on them, clearing the path for you to find the massive statue, sitting as peaceful as you left it.</p><p>"Now what?" You asked aloud, cheeks turning red. This had to be one of the stupidest, meaningless things you'd done.</p><p>"<em>The plant</em>," it said, and a pressure raised your fingertips as though a hand were grabbing yours. It pulled, just slightly, barely moving you but pointing you in the direction of the seaweed.</p><p>You looked to the plant, squinting as though that would help decipher its' value. Plants having healing powers certainly wasn't unheard of, but what worked as medicine for one species could work as poison for the next, so a healthy doubt stirred in your thoughts. You reached for it––drew your padded fingers across the length of a single leaf, testing the feel of it. Slowly you pulled out your scanner, holding the leaf taut for it to test. A beeping informed you of the process, and soon you were drawing the screen back to you, reading off the points.</p><p><br/>It's some fucked up strain of marijuana.</p><p>Not all that uncommon, though the origins of it were unknown. Often found in the Sygna sector, well-loved by the Wytha people of your home planet. An extract of it could be used as a painkiller.</p><p>Then it wasn't you. It wasn't you in your head, a hallucination of your own desires; it had to be something else, something that knew this plant would help you. You stared at the leaf in your hand, floating unmoving in the soft current of an alien ocean. You didn't breathe––barely had a thought in your head.</p><p>"Who are you?" You finally asked, looking up towards nothing. Although you didn't expect to see anything, you couldn't deny the spark of disappointment in your chest when you found nothing in front of you.</p><p>"<em>I am before you</em>," it said. You glanced around, checking behind your back before spinning the full circle back to the statue.</p><p>"I don't... understand," you said, your voice strained. </p><p>"<em>Do I look peaceful</em>?" He asked. <em>"I don't feel it.</em>"</p><p>His words echoed in your head, gaining their own voice so separate from your own that even the illusion of him inside you began to fade. Now the sound appeared to come from around you––from <em>behind</em> you. You looked up, up to the statue before you, and it clicked.</p><p>He did look peaceful. An absent smile rested on his face, interrupted only by a fissure crawling up from his collar to his brow. Otherwise the stone was smooth––partially eroded by the current but beautiful nonetheless. </p><p>"You're..."</p><p>"<em>I am before you</em>." </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Rumbling</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ouch.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>yay next chapter might actually be interesting</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He's handsome, truthfully, with a strong jaw and piercing eyes that followed you into your ship. The image of him remained clear in your mind despite the absence of his voice, but your hands were preoccupied with the creation of a pain-killing tonic. It allowed you to appear more calm than you were, and though you didn't know if he was watching you, you were grateful for the distraction. Maybe it's just your own thoughts, but you could feel something on the back of your neck––something watching you.</p><p>"I used to live in a city," you said, and a second later the background hum of the ocean and your fluorescent lights disappeared. He's listening. "Lived in an apartment. My neighbors used to always play music, loud enough to hear through the walls. I never really liked music."</p><p>Now, though, you miss it. It was far too quiet compared to how you used to work, how you're accustomed to working. So you hummed––some pop song you didn't know the lyrics to and just barely remember the tune for. </p><p>"Did your people have music?" You asked but earned no reply. The pulse of ocean water and buzz of electricity once more returned, marking the spirits' absence. You sighed long and hard.</p><p>"Fucker," you grumbled to yourself.</p><p>Using a simple process of paste-making, the painkiller was soon made ready by your hands. It was a thick liquid now, dark green and carrying the scent of salt and smoke. By then you're aware the taste is going to be incredibly unpleasant, so you plug your nose, letting the tincture fall down the back of your throat before you could gag it back up. You kept your nose plugged as you searched around for food, something with a strong taste that would rid your mouth of the plant's bitterness.</p><p>Eventually you found a bottle of beer. Generally speaking you tried not to drink––then again, you also tried not to take drugs, and here you were. With that you popped open the cap, taking a long swig that purposefully ran along the whole of your tongue. A long, satisfied sigh left you once you swallowed, the taste now distant compared to the taste of beer.</p><p>Crawling down to your knees, you slid in underneath the sink, resting your head on the pillow sat at the head of your bed. Your eyes fluttered shut, hoping to find some sort of relief in the coming minutes. With the two injuries to your back, you couldn't lie down properly anymore, leaving you to rest on your side.</p><p>When you woke it was dawn according to your camera clock. A bad headache is what stirred you, pushing you to your feet. As the pressure ran away from your head, the pain began to fade away, replaced with a pleasant high that had to be the result of that tincture. The world spinned a little––just a little, enough to knock you off your balance, but you caught yourself on the sink counter. You raised your hand to hold your head, slowing your breath so as to contain yourself a little better.</p><p>"It is working?" He asked, and the nearness of his voice startled you. Already you'd grown used to it coming from the back of your mind.</p><p>"I think so," you mumbled, your mouth suddenly feeling very dry.</p><p>"Drink," he said.</p><p>You hesitated to obey anything he said, but you couldn't deny that drinking is nothing more than logic considering your dehydrated state. Generally, purebred marijuana did have a tendency to dehydrate a person, and one saturated in salt water probably did its' job tenfold. You reached for your open bottle of beer, taking several swigs before either of you started talking.</p><p>"This is a holy plant," he said softly, his voice growing nearer to you until a heat began to radiate from a body that wasn't there. </p><p>"Thank you for... telling me about it, I guess," you grumbled, too fatigued to manage much else. You could barely tell the difference between having your eyes open or closed––open there's black spots and black edges, closed there's nothing <em>but</em> darkness.</p><p>Consciousness came and went in waves for the next several minutes, and when it returned to you for a blissful two seconds you caught sight of feet on the edge of your vision. The floor was still visible through them. While that was certainly alarming, the most interesting part of it was that they were blue, emitting their own light onto you. Unfortunately that was about all you could manage in that moment; three seconds later and you're fading back into a blackout.</p><p>He's crouching in front of you when you come back to. Instantly you jumped backwards, knocking your upper bruise on the edge of the counter. You let out a gasp of pain, but it faded when you met his eye, finding the same sense of surprise that you had.</p><p>"Can you see me yet?" He asked, eyes widening further as he leant in closer.</p><p>"What the fuck are you?"</p><p>He frowned.</p><p>"I thought we went over this," he said as a smile began to pull at his lips, reflecting in perfect symmetry the vacant smile of the King's statue. "Besides, I think I have far more questions for you, now that you can see me."</p><p>"Oh, so you wait till now to tell me you're a chatterbox?" You scoffed, shaking your head despite the grin on you.</p><p>"Couldn't scare you away," he said as he moved closer yet, into your personal space, "needed to gain your trust."</p><p>"... right, well, if you could get off me –"</p><p>"Hm? Oh, yes," he said, moving backwards till you were allowed room to breathe. </p><p>You were 80% sure if you wanted you could've just stood up and phased right through him, but it sounded like something that would be rude, so instead you waited till he was on the other side of the room before you stood. You were still unsteady, moving to your feet––he tried to reach forward and help you, but you brushed his hand away. As expected you went right through him, but nonetheless he understood your message.</p><p>"Are you a God?" He asked eagerly, fingers curled into his palm as excitement oozed from his every motion.</p><p>"Not that I'm aware of," you mumbled.</p><p>"But you came from the sky," he said, and despite himself moved closer. "I saw you. You fell from the sky, engulfed in flame before you came here. Have you come for me?"</p><p>"I don't even know who you are," you said. He (very clearly) didn't like that answer, but continued anyway.</p><p>"Do you know what happened here?"</p><p>You paused.</p><p>That was the only question you had for him, the only important one, and he didn't have the answer. A weight sunk in your chest.</p><p>"No," you answered truthfully, no matter how much the answer annoyed you.</p><p>"Do you trust me yet? Or did you already trust me, and now I've ruined it?"</p><p>"How about you calm the hell down and then we'll see," you snapped, exhaustion pulling underneath your eyes and blurring the feeling in your limbs. Yet it didn't deter him––or, in the least, it didn't put him off.</p><p>"One more question," he asked of you, and you nodded absently, feeling sick from the up and down motion. "What is your name?"</p><p>"Tofu," you murmured. "It's a family name."</p><p>"Uh... right. My name is Ahkmen. I'm the prince of this world," he said with an air of pride, his chin tilting upwards. For a split second you could imagine him as a King––royal, master of the lands, the object of deification. </p><p>"Not a very exciting world you've got here," you said, though it's a lie to you. There's nothing more exciting than this, but to a king, riches are unreachable without subjects to command.</p><p>"You haven't seen the whole of it," he said, grinning.</p><p>"There's more?" You asked. </p><p>In an instant you recall earlier thoughts of yours; the logical conclusion that there had to be more beyond the statue. The pungent attitude of your sickness melted away the more you thought about it, the more you itched to leave this ship, the more you imagined what awaits you.</p><p>"Of course there is," he said, and even now you can tell he saw every bit of your growing excitement. "But you must rest now. Wait until the medicine has settled in you. Alright? After that I can answer any other questions you have."</p><p>You reluctantly slunk back under the counter, curling up in your blanket with your wet suit still on.</p><p>At last you got a rest that lasted longer than thirty minutes. Dreams danced with their meaningless stories, entertaining you for a pleasant two hours that allows the tincture to mellow out. It was still morning when you woke up, but your wits were more about you, and eagerness tainted your every thought.</p><p>He wasn't here anymore, at least not visible to you when you stood. You almost called out to him, but you stopped yourself before you did, quickly deciding it'd be best to prepare yourself before calling him to guide you. In all honesty you probably didn't even <em>need</em> him to guide you. You had a map, after all, but he could give you insight that you would otherwise never know of.</p><p>Your water suit covered the entirety of your body but added nothing else. Fins and little jets would aid you in both speed and agility, overall increasing your safety and the safety of your mission. Fins didn't just come with your ship, though––why would the government mandate those? They aren't essential, no matter how helpful they would be. It didn't bother you all that much considering you could just melt down some plastic and rebuild it at the molecular level. In fact, it took you less than ten minutes before you were pulling brand new fins onto your feet, and the first six minutes were spent looking for tupperware. Seven more minutes and little jets are implanted into your suit's palms.</p><p>Reaching for your helmet, you grabbed it from the counter and settled it over your head, waiting for the safety lock to click before you let it sit upon your shoulders. A grumble from your stomach stopped you in your tracks, growing louder and gnawing at your insides once you were aware of its' presence.</p><p>"Fuck," you mumbled. "Food."</p><p>You haphazardly stuffed granola bars into the little storage pockets in your helmet, refilling your water packets with fresh water before you stepped out of the <em>Treader</em>. Even midday there was no light down there––nothing but the headlights of your helmet, illuminating the ground in two perfect circles. Turning to the sky, you began your journey to the surface, popping your ears as the pressure got lighter.</p><p>Water rippled around you once you breached the air, eyes searching the perfectly blue sky hanging above you. You pulled off your helmet, the heat of day instantly reaching your cheeks, warming them to a pleasantly dark blush.</p><p>"You seem excited," Ahk said in a familiar whisper. </p><p>You whipped around, trying to balance yourself in the water while you searched for him, still attempting to keep the inside of your helmet dry. The progress of his incorporeal form had already vanished, leaving you talking to the air.</p><p>"Are you ready to begin?"</p><p>Your scanner was on your hip. Research log ready. Food and water was stocked. The time was upon you, and it was a beautiful day today.</p><p>"Let's go."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>so! those of you that have read my previous stories, i'm sure a story like this isn't that much of a surprise to you, and if you do end up reading it, holy shit are you okay? regardless of your answer for that i hope you find some sort of entertainment from it.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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